Avoid the following mistakes that are sure to ruin your fitness efforts:

Fail to Plan.

It’s been said over and over: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Training without a predetermined workout regime is similar to going on a trip without direction; most likely you’ll end up getting lost. Don’t make this common mistake. Ask a qualified personal trainer to design a proper program.

Compare yourself to others.

Go into any gym and you’re sure to see grunting exercisers muscling their way through workouts, a fitness studio filled with students who look like they’re auditioning for a music video. Don’t even think about trying to emulate them. Keep your ex-pectations realistic. A beginner expecting to bench 300 pounds in the first month is doomed to failure. Set realistic goals that will keep you motivated and concentrate on yourself, not others.

Too little exercise.

Contrary to what popular exercise programs would have us believe, it is simply not enough to put in three or four exercises per week and expect major results. Weight loss and body composition changes are results of cumulative lifestyle choices, not just exercise in the gym. In addition to workouts , in-crease lower level activity by walking or bike rid-ing to work. The point is to be active and keep the body in motion on a regular basis.

Too much exercise.

On the other hand, don’t become obsessed with exercise that it begins to rule your life. Over train-ing is as detrimental to achieving fitness goals as doing nothing at all. Common signs of over-training include injuries, insomnia, fatigue, pro-longed recovery from workouts, and general disin-terest in exercise. Rest and recovery are vital for achieving gains and preventing burnout.

Never change your workout routine.

Nothing is as boring as the same routine over and over again. Not only will you get bored, your mus-cles will adapt and quit responding. Change your exercises, the order you do them, the number of sets and reps, and vary the weights. Variety is nec-essary or progress will stop.

Starving to lose weight

The usual diet consists of a quick (usually missed) breakfast, lunch on the run and then a huge feast for dinner. This is the worst eating plan for weight loss because it slows down the metabolism. When the body is not fed consistently, it flips into starva-tion mode and hangs onto fat for survival. Research supports that the production of thyroid hormones can be negatively affected by repeated bouts of dieting and calorie restriction. Five or six smaller meals spaced evenly from 2.5 to 3 hours make it easier for the body to digest throughout the day and increase metabolism over the long term. It may sound counterintuitive, but in order to burn fat you need to eat. Instead of reducing the amount of meals, care should be taken in controlling portion sizes.

Looking for the “easy way out”

Whether it’s winning the lottery or having the per-fect body, we all want something for nothing. One look at infomercials and you can see all the bogus advertisements that promise weight loss by either popping a pill, or buying some revolutionary new piece of equipment. Even factions of the medical community have jumped on the bandwagon in re-cent years, promising the body of our dreams through a variety of surgical procedures. The main concept of weight loss, calories in verses calories out, is simple but far from easy. Only with dedica-tion, work, and healthy lifestyle changes are results going to happen. Forget the quick fixes. They do not exist.

Top Fitness Mistakes

E D E N M O R E G O L F & C O U N T R Y C L U B

Take care of your

body. It’s the only

place you have to

live.

Country Club News

July 2009 Health & Fitness Team

P A G E 2

Hydration At first glance, water doesn’t seem to contribute much to your health. After all it has no vitamins, fibre, protein or carbs. The truth is, water is vital to your well-being. Even mild dehydration slows me-tabolism, causes fatigue, reduces short-term memory and increases existing health challenges. One of the easiest ways to help the body function optimally and remain dis-ease free is to keep it well hy-drated. In drinking sufficient water throughout each day, we assist our body’s ability to flush toxins and metabolic waste. Most healthy adults need not worry about over-hydration.

Dehydrated cells are inefficient cells: when the cell is dehydrated, it’s membrane becomes convo-luted and the distance across the membrane increases. Substances that must traverse the membrane of a dehydrated cell are met with greater resistance. Oxygen and nutrients will not enter as readily; metabolic waste cannot leave as easily. When the cell is not func-tioning optimally, how can the body?

Research has shown that proper hydration may minimize chronic pains such as rheumatoid arthritis,

lower back pain and colitis, as well as lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Many health prac-titioners advise that if we simply drink enough water to keep our bodies sufficiently hydrated, many chronic diseases we find today would seriously abate.

Research has also shown chronic dehydration to be the root cause of many diseases associated with aging (e.g. arthritis, G.I. disorders, senile dementia). To complicate the situation, our “thirst signals” decline as we become accus-tomed to being dehydrated and as we age. Dehydration in the eld-erly can become a real problem.

Every breath we exhale is always 100% humid. It does not matter what the relative humidity is that day; generally in air-conditioned buildings, the air is about 10% humid. The difference comes from our water reserves. Perspi-ration is not always noticed in dry climates because it is wicked away before it can bead on your skin. Even though you may not see it, be assured that you are certainly losing fluid reserves through sweating (as well as through urine and breath).

How do I maintain adequate hydration levels? Drink pure alkaline ionized water whenever you can: thirsty or not, drink a lot and drink often. It’s a superior hydration system, and increases one’s appetite for water. One recom-mendation is to drink, in ounces, half your body weight measured in pounds. Don’t count on coffee or fizzy drinks to achieve a daily hydra-tion goal. Because of the caf-feine in coffee and most fizzy drinks, you need to consume at least the same amount of water just to break even. Sugar con-tent in fizzy drinks exerts great osmotic pressure; water is lost from the blood to make the fizzy drinks dilute enough to leave the stomach. Have a water bottle handy at all times! Keep one on your desk at work and in your car. Don’t depend on fruit juice—its high sugar content can dehy-drate you just like fizzy drinks! Mixing equal parts juice and pure water will do the job bet-ter. Consume the watery fruits and vegetables:watermelon, kiwi fruit, tomato, orange, carrots, apples, etc. These can signifi-cantly improve your hydration.

E D E N M O R E C O U N T R Y C L U B N E W S

Dish of the month You will need

4 Rump steaks. 8-10 Radishes, finely sliced. 1 red onion, finely sliced. 4 large carrots, finely sliced. 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced. 100g cashew nuts, toasted. Large handful mint, roughly chopped. Large handful coriander, roughly chopped. Juice of 2 limes. 1 Tbsp fish sauce. 1 Tsp sugar. Oil for fry-ing.

Thai beef salad

What to do 1. Fry the steaks using a little oil for 2 - 3 mins each side and leave to rest. 2. Mix the radishes, carrots, chilli, cashew nuts, mint and coriander in a bowl.

3. Make the dressing by whisk-ing the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar in a bowl. 4. Finely slice the steaks and mix well with the salad and dressing.

You are what

you eat.

‘Neagh Problem’ for Action Cancer

On Sunday, 30th August Janice Wilson (Gym Member) & Kenny McCann (Gym Manager & PT) will be competing in the ‘Lap the Lough’ cycling event. This event covers 150km’s (that’s 95 miles in ‘old money’), circling Lough Neagh. However, we are not doing this ‘just for fun’. We want to raise as much money as possible for Ac-tion Cancer—that’s where YOU come in!!. We’ll do the pushing and sweating and all you have to do is donate some cash to help motivate us and support this very worthy charity. Cancer is set to become the biggest killer this new millennium and Northern Ireland suffers from one of the highest incidences of the disease. Action Cancer is committed to saving lives and supporting people with cancer in our commu-nity—so PLEASE donate as much as you can to help Action Cancer continue this fight to save lives and help people living with cancer in Northern Ireland. All sponsorship raised will be spent on their lifesaving services and research, here in Northern Ireland. Every year £3.6billion must be raised to fund Action Cancer’s services which include early detection clinics for men and women, a mobile screening unit, the ‘Big Bus’, health promotion for workplaces, community groups and schools, campaigning, grants for local research projects, counselling and complementary therapy for peo-ple living with cancer and their families.

Almost all of us will know someone in our own circle of family and friends, whose life has been touched by cancer. Here’s how your cash can make a difference: £5 Will help towards providing vital information leaflets to the public concerning issues like breast, cervical, testicular and bowel cancer. £25 Will help provide a counselling session for a cancer patient or their loved ones when they need support most. £35 Will cover a session of complimentary ther-apy and relaxation for people under great stress and difficulties. These include yoga, aromather-apy and Indian head massage. £75 Will cover the cost of a mammogram with two consultant radiologists to report on every mammogram taken at Action Cancer. This is one of the most effective ways of detecting breast can-cer at an early and treatable stage. £100 If just 50 people give £100 each Action Cancer can fund a cancer research scholarship for a whole year at one of our local universities. So, as you can see, even the smallest amount can make a difference to fighting cancer . Your active support is much needed and appreci-ated. Please give as much as you can—it WILL make a difference.

It really couldn’t be easier to support Action Cancer and motivate us to keep pedalling. Just do one of the following: • Online—Go to www.justgiving.com/janken and use your debit/credit card to donate—it’s safe

& secure and incredibly easy, plus it takes no time at all! Check it out for yourself! • Cash/Cheque—Give your cash or cheque (made payable to Action Cancer) to either Janice or

Kenny and complete our sponsorship form. Thank you, Janice & Kenny

The Challenge! Making a Difference!

2 EASY ways to Sponsor and make a DIFFERENCE!

Stuff You Need To Know ! July Offer

Not to be missed.

Half price round of golf.

Monday to Friday

Before 9am And

Between 12 noon and 4pm

Nirvana Holistic Therapy

Treatments Include: • Auricular Acupuncture • Hopi Ear Candling • Indian Head Massage • Reiki • Reflexology For clinic opening hours and book-ings enquire at Gym Reception or call 028 9261 3838.

Refer A Friend For the month of July we are re-running our refer a friend scheme. Here’s how it works; simply refer a friend into membership and you will receive a polar FS3 heart rate moni-tor. This heart rate monitor is per-fect for tracking heart rate and calo-ries and provides a summary after your workout.

Promax Diet is a unique meal replacement, designed for weight conscious individuals looking for high quality nutrition to support their weight loss goals. Each serving of Promax Diet has 228 calories and contains 38g of Biomax™ whey protein, with just 10g of complex carbohydrates and fibre to keep hunger at bay, along with essential fatty acids (EFAs), 1700mg of Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), green tea, caffeine and other beneficial ingredients. The whey protein in Promax Diet is rich in essential amino acids, which are important when dieting to spare muscle tissue. Promax Diet is an ideal substitute for breakfast and lunch or any time where a healthy, quick and easy alternative to fast foods or un-healthy snacks is required. For optimum results, take 2 servings a day, along with Maximuscle’s other ‘diet solution’ products, train hard and follow a sensible diet and you should achieve your goals in record time. Promax Diet mixes easily with water to form a great tasting shake.

Maximuscle Promax Diet